Sawiris Foundation Overview

The Sawiris Foundation is Egypt’s largest private philanthropy, supporting innovative solutions for comprehensive, sustainable development. Over 25 years, we’ve tackled poverty, unemployment, social exclusion, and education gaps among marginalized Egyptians—funding programs with government, private sector, and civil society partners to create thousands of jobs, provide quality education, and deliver basic services, with total investments exceeding USD 100 million (EGP 5.3 billion), impacting more than 1 million lives.

Strategic Progress: 2025 Highlights 

Facing rising global and national challenges, we’ve adopted effective altruism and evidence-based practices in our 2023-2028 strategy to maximize impact towards two primary goals: reducing multidimensional poverty and empowering agents of change, focusing on the five Egyptian governorates with the highest poverty rates. 

We are now publishing our 2025 annual report—covering achievements from roughly the first half of this strategy period—with our steadfast commitment to full transparency, accountability, openness, and continuous learning to ensure optimal positive outcomes.

Evidence-Based Achievements 

We’re proud that these accomplishments stem largely from evidence-based programs, demonstrating the power of rigorous evaluation and data-driven decision-making. To minimize risk, we strategically fund initiatives across four evidence-informed tracks: innovative pilots (Track A), proven scale-ups (Track B), government partnerships (Track C), and unrestricted NGO capacity building (Track D). The following examples showcase our impact in action. 

Bab Amal – Graduating Extremely Poor Households Out of Poverty 

Bab Amal exemplifies this approach, moving from Track B (evidence-based) to Track C (scale-ups/government partnerships), with total committed investments reaching USD 9 million (EGP 475 million), covering more than 16,300 households. Bab Amal is an adaptation of BRAC International’s globally proven Graduation Approach, validated by 20 randomized evaluations, for Egypt’s Upper Egypt. Our 2018 partnership with BRAC and J-PAL MENA tested a lower-cost version via large-scale randomized evaluation on 3,465 ultra-poor families, tripling productive assets, improving food security, and boosting women’s employment at half the cost, with gains sustained through COVID. Now partnered with Egypt’s Ministry of Social Solidarity targeting Takaful & Karama beneficiaries, the Sawiris Foundation and its co-funding partners have ambitious plans to serve 100,000 families by 2030 through intensive resource mobilization, strategic funding, and expanded partnerships. 

Microenterprise Job Creation 

Our Job Creation Competition randomized evaluation with J-PAL MENA compared loans, cash grants, and in-kind grants for microenterprises in Upper Egypt’s Qena governorate, boosting business profits 50%+ for key subgroups like women and new businesses, while creating sustainable jobs. Low-interest loans proved 4x more cost-effective than grants, prompting us to redesign financial support—phasing out grants for expanded lending. We’re now piloting innovative micro-equity models to share risks and rewards with entrepreneurs. 

Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL)

Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL) groups students by actual learning levels—not age or grade—for targeted foundational reading/math instruction, pioneered by Pratham (India). Rigorous randomized evaluations across India, Kenya, Ghana, and more show major learning gains—often doubling or tripling reading/math proficiency—deemed among the most cost-effective education interventions (under $10/child/year) by J-PAL and global panels. We’ve adapted TaRL for community schools in Upper Egypt, on track to achieving ambitious targets. 

Comprehensive Nursery Support 

Comprehensive nursery support tackles intertwined barriers to women’s employment and early childhood development. An initial randomized evaluation tested childcare subsidies but found insufficient enrollment due to parents’ concerns over nursery quality and social norms. We’ve developed a holistic package for a national level endeavor, in partnership with the Ministry of Social Solidarity and other key partners—upgrading infrastructure, training caregivers, linking to subsidized food programs, and addressing norms—now under rigorous evaluation. Scaling this complex intervention requires sustained partnerships and innovative financing to transform Egypt’s care economy. 

Explore Our Progress 

Dive into the full 2025 report to learn more on our impact in action.